Chapter Summaries

Houtu sought Lin Yunji’s help with the overcrowded Netherworld, and he proposed that the Witch Clan serve as its underworld officials. His suggestion altered the Witch Clan’s fate, while Houtu considered what it meant for her people.

• Houtu rushed to Empress Wa Palace, prompting the remaining Ancestral Witches to fear that their clan’s great calamity had arrived, but Dijiang urged them to face it together.
• At Empress Wa Palace, Lin Yunji told Houtu that the Netherworld was overwhelmed because Lady Pingxin governed it without other underworld gods.
• Lin Yunji explained that appointing more officials would solve the problem, and Houtu wondered where they could find enough candidates.
• Lin Yunji proposed the Witch Clan as suitable underworld gods, causing a change in the Primordial Wilderness Heavenly Dao’s strands of karma and destiny.
• Houtu considered Lin Yunji’s proposal in light of the Witch Clan’s eventual loss of its role as a protagonist.

Lin Yunji persuaded Houtu to move the Witch Clan to the Netherworld World and serve as its Yin gods, ensuring the clan’s survival and helping govern the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Houtu agreed, and the resulting shift in Heavenly Dao providence drew the attention of Daoist Mosquito and Fuxi.

• Lin Yunji explained to Houtu that the Witch Clan could survive its decline by moving to the Netherworld World and serving as Yin gods.
• Houtu decided that the Witch Clan would leave the Primordial Wilderness Continent and govern the Netherworld’s Yin administration.
• The Heavenly Dao’s providence shifted after Houtu’s decision, alerting powerful figures across the Primordial World.
• Daoist Mosquito tried to divine the change but could not discern its cause, then decided to seek a Law Treasure for protection.
• Fuxi sensed the change from the Sun Palace and divined that it likely concerned the Witch Clan.

Houtu withdrew the Witch Clan from the Primordial Wilderness Continent to the Netherworld World, where they gained Yin Court Primordial Spirits and accepted their new role. Lin Yunji invested Dijiang as Netherworld Dijun and began appointing the Ten Yama Kings, leaving the Netherworld’s order of life and death under the Witch Clan’s control.

• Fuxi’s divination revealed only that a major change concerned the Witch Clan, while Ancestor Hongjun declared that their withdrawal advanced the Heavenly Dao’s evolution.
• Houtu announced that the Witch Clan would leave the Primordial Wilderness Continent and become Netherworld yin gods, and the Heavenly Dao granted them Yin Court Primordial Spirits.
• The witches answered Houtu’s call, entered the Netherworld World through newly opened passageways, and found that they could draw on its power.
• Lin Yunji invested Dijiang as Netherworld Dijun and gave him the Book of Life and Death and the Soul-Reaping Brush to govern the lives and deaths of beings.
• Lin Yunji invested Jumang as King Qinguang and gave him the Karmic Retribution Terrace Mirror, then invested Rushou as King Chujiang of the second court.

Lin Yunji appointed the Witch Clan to govern the Netherworld, bringing order and earning the clan abundant merit. He then warned Houtu and the others that the Netherworld remained incomplete because some irredeemably evil souls could not be punished or reformed by its existing hells.

• Lin Yunji appointed Gonggong King Songdi and Xuanming King Zhuanlun, and gave the Ancestral Witches authority to appoint subordinate underworld gods.
• Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches assigned Witch Clan members to duties including judging souls, administering punishments, capturing wandering ghosts, and helping with reincarnation.
• The Netherworld’s improvement caused the Primordial World to advance, and the Heavenly Dao bestowed merit on Lin Yunji, Houtu, and the Witch Clan.
• The Witch Clan began sorting souls: the good were sent to rebirth, while the wicked were punished before reincarnating; some Witch Clan women became Meng Pos and made Meng Po Soup.
• In Empress Wa Palace, Lin Yunji told Houtu, Changxi, and Yunxiao that the Netherworld was not yet fully perfected because some souls were too evil for its existing hells to contain or reform.

Lin Yunji discussed how to deal with beings whose evil thoughts could not be cleansed, suggesting that an opportunity would reveal the answer. After the Witch Clan withdrew to the Netherworld, the Demon Race reclaimed its strength while the Human Race rose and began settling the abandoned territories.

• Bixiao, Qiongxiao, Xihe, and Houtu debated whether to kill, imprison, or otherwise deal with beings whose evil thoughts were deeply rooted, and Lin Yunji said the time had not yet come to explain his solution.
• Lin Yunji considered opening Avici Hell to imprison beings beyond redemption and said someone of great compassion would eventually need to guide them toward salvation.
• The Witch Clan's departure left its territory on the Primordial Wilderness Continent vacant, and the Demon Race moved to reclaim dominance under Nüwa's banner.
• Youchaoshi, Ziyishi, and Suirenshi became Daluo Golden Immortals, and the Human Race's experts grew rapidly in number.
• The Human Race left its original homeland and began settling some of the territory the Witch Clan had abandoned.

Three Human Race immortals confirmed that the Changheng Tribe had vanished and prepared to claim its abandoned Cloudwood forest. At the Yuankan Tribe, the Human Race, Nether Race, and Demon Race faced off over the Witch Clan’s vacant settlement.

• Three Human Race immortals flew through the Cloudwood forest and headed for the Changheng Tribe to check whether the Witch Clan had left.
• The three searched the Changheng Tribe and found its settlement empty, confirming that its members had migrated to the Netherworld World.
• The leading Human Race Mystic Immortal celebrated the chance to claim the Changheng Tribe’s abandoned resources, including the Cloudwood forest.
• At the Yuankan Tribe, members of the Nether Race, Demon Race, and Human Race arrived at nearly the same time and entered a standoff.
• One Golden Immortal of the Nether Race faced two members of the Human Race at the Yuankan Tribe.

The Nether Race, Demon Race, and Human Race contested the abandoned Yuankan Tribe, but a Demon Race Daluo arrived and killed the Nether Race expert. He ordered the Human siblings to leave, and they accepted that they could not challenge his strength.

• The Nether Race expert threatened the Demon and Human factions with his Black Luo Miasma as the three sides disputed control of the Yuankan Tribe.
• The Demon Race lion spirit invoked the Demon God's decree, while the Human woman warned her brother about the poisonous mist.
• A voice from the sky announced the arrival of a Daluo, who crushed the Nether Race Golden Immortal with a giant claw.
• The Demon Race Daluo landed, rebuked the white-furred rat spirit, and ordered the Human siblings to leave without killing them.
• The Human brother clenched his fists, then gave up on claiming the Yuankan Tribe's stores of rare ores and metals.

Youqiongshi stopped the Yellow Tiger Demon God from taking the territory left by the Witch Clan, claiming Great Witch Yuankan had given it to the Human Race. The Demon Race withdrew, and more than six thousand years later, Lin Yunji watched the first magic competition at the Empress Wa Palace.

• Youqiongshi arrived as the Yellow Tiger Demon God was about to claim the former Yuankan Tribe territory for the Demon Race.
• Youqiongshi claimed Great Witch Yuankan had entrusted the territory to him, and the Yellow Tiger Demon God could not challenge the claim without risking a fight with a fellow Great Luo expert.
• The Yellow Tiger Demon God chose not to fight Youqiongshi and ordered the demons to leave, fearing the consequences of killing a Human Race leader favored by Lin Yunji.
• Youqiongshi thanked Lin Yunji silently for protecting him, and the Human Race continued growing as demons and humans generally avoided conflict.
• More than six thousand years after the Witch Clan moved to the Netherworld, Lin Yunji watched the attendants of the Empress Wa Palace compete in magic.

Lin Yunji watched the Snail Emperor Palace’s combat tournament and predicted that Lingzhuzi had the greatest combat talent among the Dao children. Lingzhuzi fought Hongfu Nü to a standstill until she split into four bodies and overwhelmed him with a joint assault.

• Lin Yunji offered an Innate Spirit Treasure as the prize for the Snail Emperor Palace’s combat tournament, drawing the palace’s Dao children to compete.
• Nüwo, Changxi, Qiongxiao, Yunxiao, and Bixiao discussed which Dao child was most likely to win, favoring Xuansuzi or Hongfu Nü.
• Lin Yunji said Lingzhuzi had the greatest combat talent and pointed out that he was about to fight Hongfu Nü.
• Lingzhuzi and Hongfu Nü exchanged attacks with a spear and a treasured sword, fighting evenly despite Lingzhuzi’s lower cultivation.
• Hongfu Nü split into four Dharma bodies, and the four attacked Lingzhuzi together until he was left struggling.

Lingzhuzi used his jade pearl to defeat Hongfu Nü and Xuansuzi, winning the Snail Emperor Palace dueling tournament. Lin Yunji rewarded him with the Ten-Thousand-Li Sea-Overturning Bottle and explained its powers, leaving Lingzhuzi astonished.

• Lingzhuzi used his jade pearl to destroy Hongfu Nü’s Dharma bodies, disarm her, and win their match.
• Qiongxiao and Yunxiao recognized the pearl’s unusual strength, and Lin Yunji admitted that he had taught Lingzhuzi how to refine and control it.
• Lingzhuzi won three more matches and defeated Xuansuzi in the final to claim the tournament victory.
• Nüwo awarded five Acquired Spirit Treasures to other disciples, while Lingzhuzi waited for the Innate Spirit Treasure Lin Yunji had promised the winner.
• Lin Yunji gave Lingzhuzi the Ten-Thousand-Li Sea-Overturning Bottle and described how it could capture people and refine them into seawater.

Lin Yunji rewarded Lingzhuzi with a powerful Innate Spirit Treasure, then sensed a change and hurried into seclusion. Nüwo and the others thought he was about to break through, but he had actually spent ten thousand years unlocking the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda’s new levels and was drawn to the fourth level’s refinement function.

• Lin Yunji gave Lingzhuzi the Ten-Thousand-Li Sea-Overturning Bottle and warned him not to use it at the next spell-fighting tournament.
• Lin Yunji sensed something, ended the tournament, and hurried into seclusion, leaving Nüwo and the others to speculate that he was about to advance.
• Lin Yunji’s third level of the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda opened, granting it the power to capture and imprison enemies.
• Lin Yunji learned that the pagoda’s fourth level could refine, and its fifth level also had a function he had been told about in advance.

Lin Yunji saved Exchange Points for more than ten thousand years to open the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda’s fifth floor, hoping to use its crafting function to produce powerful puppets and treasures. When he entered the new floor, the system detected a Universe Furnace Reflection and evolved his Heaven and Earth Furnace Cultivation Method into the Universe Furnace.

• Lin Yunji learned that the pagoda’s fourth floor could refine materials and its fifth floor could craft Primordial Expanse Spirit Treasures and Hunyuan Great Dao Sage puppets without spending Exchange Points on each creation.
• The system confirmed that the pagoda could make puppets stronger than Lin Yunji, so he decided to save enough Exchange Points to open both floors.
• After more than ten thousand years, the system notified Lin Yunji that he had enough Exchange Points to open the fifth floor, and he confirmed the purchase for 100 billion Exchange Points.
• The fifth floor opened as a vast space resembling a Heaven and Earth Furnace, and Lin Yunji sensed a connection to his cultivation method.
• The system extracted principles from a Universe Furnace Reflection and evolved Lin Yunji’s Heaven and Earth Furnace into the Universe Furnace, which he could currently cultivate to its third layer.

Lin Yunji used the fifth floor of the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda to cultivate the Universe Furnace method, pushing his physical body to the Twelfth Stage of Hunyuan Great Dao Sage. He then refined a First-Stage Hunyuan Great Dao Sage puppet in the Devil Master's likeness.

• Lin Yunji discovered that the fifth floor simulated the Universe Furnace and activated its reflection to cultivate his body.
• Lin Yunji devoured the pagoda's accumulated essence Qi, shaking the Primordial World and alarming Yuanshi, Tongtian, Houtu, and Old Ancestor Hongjun.
• Lin Yunji's Universe Furnace Cultivation Method reached its second layer, and his physical body advanced to the Twelfth Stage of Hunyuan Great Dao Sage.
• Lin Yunji withdrew his power to avoid damaging the Primordial World and realized he could now defeat the Devil Master with a single finger.
• Lin Yunji used the remaining essence Qi to refine a First-Stage Hunyuan Great Dao Sage puppet resembling the Devil Master, and the puppet knelt before him.

Lin Yunji tested a First-Stage Hunyuan Great Dao Sage puppet and found it far too weak to help him. He realized that refining stronger puppets would require vast resources, and began considering the Source Realm as a source of powerful enemies while preparing for its inhabitants to make their next move.

• Lin Yunji ordered the puppet, which resembled the Devil Master, to attack him, then effortlessly stopped its punch with one finger.
• Lin Yunji asked the system how long the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda would need to refine a Twelfth-Stage Hunyuan Great Dao Sage puppet and learned it would take about eighteen thousand seven hundred years.
• The system explained that dense Chaos Qi currents or refining high-quality Law Treasures and powerful Chaos beings could speed up the pagoda's accumulation of Chaos Essence Qi.
• Lin Yunji decided the Source Realm's powerful inhabitants could provide suitable targets, but chose to wait for them to come to him while he continued cultivating.
• Lin Yunji sent the weak puppet back into the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda and refined it into Chaos Essence Qi.

After opening the fifth floor of the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda, Lin Yunji emerged from seclusion with his physical body at the Twelfth Stage of Hunyuan Great Dao Sage, though his Great Dao cultivation had not improved. He told Nüwo and the others that the realm above Hunyuan Great Dao Sage was Supreme Primordial Unity, then insisted it was not as far away as they imagined.

• Lin Yunji came out of seclusion after spending all his Exchange Points opening the fifth floor of the Primordial Expanse Glazed Pagoda, and told Nüwo that his Great Dao cultivation had not advanced.
• Lin Yunji explained that his intrinsic Law Treasure had broken through and its feedback had raised his physical body to the Twelfth Stage of Hunyuan Great Dao Sage.
• Nüwo, Yunxiao, Bixiao, Qiongxiao, and the others were shocked by Lin Yunji's physical cultivation and wondered what realm lay above Hunyuan Great Dao Sage.
• Lin Yunji named the realm above Hunyuan Great Dao Sage as Supreme Primordial Unity, while Nüwo and the others considered it nearly unreachable.
• Lin Yunji told the women that Supreme Primordial Unity was not as far away as they imagined.

Lin Yunji revealed that ripe Heaven-Reaching Jianmu fruits could help a Twelfth Stage Hunyuan Heavenly Dao Sage become a Hunyuan Great Dao Sage, while warning his companions not to rely on external aids. As news of his breakthrough frightened the Demon Race, a mysterious giant hand seized a Sage-level kun fish in the Chaos beyond the Primordial World.

• Lin Yunji explained that proven cultivation paths accelerated progress and revealed that the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu bore fruits capable of helping someone reach Hunyuan Great Dao Sage.
• Lin Yunji said the fruits were unripe and required the user to reach the Twelfth Stage of Hunyuan Heavenly Dao Sage, then warned Bixiao against laziness and dependence on external aid.
• Lin Yunji promised the first ripe fruit to whoever among them reached the required stage first, and Nüwo and the others agreed to wait for later fruits.
• News of Lin Yunji's breakthrough spread through the Primordial World, deepening the great experts' awe and making the Demon Race abandon plans to suppress the Human Race.
• Far beyond the Primordial World, a giant hand sealed a vast region of Chaos and seized a Sage-level kun fish.

A hunched old Daoist from the Source Realm entered the Primordial World, intending to seize it and search for the Chaos Pearl. He attacked Old Ancestor Hongjun in Purple Cloud Palace, but a mysterious branch and a lazy voice checked him.

• The hunched old Daoist traveled through Chaos, boasting that the Devil Master was dead and coveting the Chaos Pearl.
• He sensed the young Primordial World and decided to claim it as his own cave abode.
• The hunched old Daoist appeared before Old Ancestor Hongjun in Purple Cloud Palace and demanded that he kneel.
• Old Ancestor Hongjun identified him as a Chaos Connate God or Devil from the Source Realm and defended the Primordial World's potential.
• The hunched old Daoist struck at Old Ancestor Hongjun, but a green branch blocked the blow and whipped him.
• A lazy voice warned the hunched old Daoist not to show off his meager skills as immense pressure filled Purple Cloud Palace.

Lin Yunji overpowered a hunched old Daoist who had come from the Source Realm and questioned him about his mission and homeland. The old Daoist revealed the Source Realm’s history and its five mysterious Source Venerables.

• Lin Yunji’s pressure forced the hunched old Daoist to his knees, and Lin Yunji entered the Purple Cloud Palace and greeted Old Ancestor Hongjun.
• Lin Yunji asked whether the old Daoist came from the Source Realm, and the old Daoist admitted it and acknowledged Lin Yunji’s superior cultivation.
• The old Daoist told Lin Yunji that Ancestor Wujie had sent him to search for the Chaos Pearl.
• The old Daoist explained that the Hongmeng World had shattered in an ancient calamity, leaving the present Source Realm as the largest surviving fragment.
• The old Daoist said five Source Venerables had saved the Source Realm fragment, though he had never seen them or learned their Daoist names.

Lin Yunji learned that Ancestor Wujie had sent the hunched old Daoist on his own, without the backing of the Source Realm’s other Supremes. After the Daoist pledged to serve him, Lin Yunji spared him and asked for details about Wujie, leaving him confident that Wujie was the only force he needed to face.

• The hunched old Daoist explained that Ancestor Wujie was one of 103 Supremes in the Source Realm and ranked near the bottom.
• Lin Yunji realized Wujie had acted alone, and the hunched old Daoist offered to serve him to save his life.
• Lin Yunji withdrew his pressure, spared the hunched old Daoist, and invited him to sit.
• The hunched old Daoist said the Source Realm was not a unified force and that no other Supreme had been involved in Wujie’s plans.
• The hunched old Daoist described Wujie’s Chaos Thousand-Mechanism Umbrella, Wujie Palace, and followers.

Lin Yunji learned why Ancestor Wujie had sent Bailou to retrieve the Chaos Pearl instead of coming himself: the Source Realm’s Supremes guarded their interests, and the pearl’s appearance could draw them into conflict. After Lin Yunji revealed that he, too, had reached the tenth stage of the Hunyuan Great Dao Sage realm, Bailou was left astonished.

• Bailou explained that Ancestor Wujie stayed in the Source Realm to keep other Supremes from learning about the Chaos Pearl and attacking.
• Lin Yunji understood why the Devil Master and Ancestor Wujie had coveted the Chaos Pearl and ordered Bailou to remain with him.
• Bailou introduced himself as a woodlouse from the Source Realm who had survived its destruction and reached the tenth stage of the Hunyuan Great Dao Sage realm.
• Lin Yunji revealed that he had also reached the tenth stage, leaving Bailou staring at him in disbelief.
• Lin Yunji reflected that his cultivation had advanced only two stages in thousands of years, while Bailou had spent countless epochs reaching the same realm.